New Mutants (1982) 98

June is National Cancer Survivor Month.

While many of us have the unfortunate ability to put a face to the month, Four Color Holidays is using Deadpool’s scarred visage.

One of the Weapon X candidates, Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, was diagnosed with an unspecific cancer. Due to his accelerated healing power, Deadpool is able to regenerate any damaged or destroyed portion of his body. That includes his normal and cancerous cells.

Following his debut in New Mutants 98, Deadpool bounced around the Marvel Mutant U associated with co-creator Rob Liefeld. He became a regular in X-Force before branching out to guest shots in The Avengers, Daredevil, and Heroes for Hire.

In 1993 Deadpool earned his own mini-series, The Circle Chase, penned by co-creator Fabian Nicieza and penciled by Joe Madureira. A moderate fan favorite, he returned in a second mini scribed by Mark Waid and penciled by Ian Churchill.

New Mutants (1982) 98

In 1997 Deadpool received his first solo series. Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness guided the new Merc with a Mouth through the first 36 issues. Christopher Priest replaced Kelly with issue 37.

Priest left after a year with other authors telling Wade’s tale until Gail Simone took over with issue 65. The book was “re-launched” with issue 69 as Agent X.

After the confusion of the reboot, Deadpool wandered the Marvel U for a bit until he was tagged for Cable & Deadpool in 2004 co-starring fellow mutant Cable. The buddy book lasted 50 issues until it, too, was cancelled to make way for Deadpool’s second solo series.

Marvel’s annual crossover bid for 2008 was Secret Invasion. Deadpool played a major role in aiding Nick Fury and S.H.E.I.L.D as they halted the attack. Daniel Way and Ale Garza were the artistic team for the series.

Deadpool seemed to blossom as the 2010s dawned. Launched were The Deadpool Corps, Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth, Deadpool MAX.

As Marvel continued to morph and reboot, so did Deadpool with Brian Posehn (or Bert on Big Bang Theory) at the helm. Posehn earned the dubious honor of having written the most Deadpool stories as he guided him through the previous decade.

In 2016 Ryan Reynolds appeared on the silver screen as Deadpool in his first movie. Reynolds reprised the role in 2018, both movies being financially successful. A third film is in the works.

While cancer treatment has improved, an estimated 5,200 cases are expected to be diagnosed each day resulting in 1,670 daily deaths.

For more information, please log onto the American Cancer Society’s Web page.